Sports Injury and Dealing With It

It is likely if you play a sport you will be injured while playing it. There can be a big difference in the time it takes to recovery depending on what you do. Most injuries, baring broken bones or a severe tear in your ligament or tendon, require rest and rehabilitation. The first thing you will want to do is to put an ice pack on your injury. This is to help slow down swelling that takes place. Don't ignore your injury if it requires the hospital to have it checked out. Taking painkillers is a bad idea at this time, because it can make it imposible to properly asses the damage.

Once you determine that the injury is painful yet mior, you can continue to ice it on a regular rotation. A good way to go is 20 minute of ice followed with 20 minutes off. Having multiple icepacks to use can be incredibly handy. I like to do the gel cold packs that can also be used as a hot packs. After the first 24 hours this can come in very handy. You can start looking into over the counter medication to help with the discomfort.

After that first 24 hours, begin using a hot pack. The hot pack helps to increase blood flow to the area that is injured, which ultimately helps to heal the area faster. Again you want to shoot for 20 minutes on hot 20 minutes off hot. 20 minutes on hot, 20 minutes off hot. Then start again. You need to stay off of your feet and not stress the area. After a few days begin to do some simple stretching exercises to begin to stretch everything out.

Another great tool is massage therapy. A combination of soft and deep tissue massage can help muscles heal faster and reduce scar tissue formation. You can then use basic therapy to slowly get yourself back into shape. While you are laid up, you can use resistance bands as a great way to get into shape.

Slowly work yourself back into exercising, make sure not to rush recovery or you can become laid up for longer. You will need to take it slowly as the pain subsides, and you can start to increase your activity again.